Double eagle at Masters was in pocket of Lehigh Valley man

Oosthuizen flipped ball to Wayne Mitchell after historic shot. He passed it on to club officials.

April 09, 2012|By Mark Wogenrich, Of The Morning Call

Frankly, Wayne Mitchell said, the notion of keeping a bit of golf history never occurred to him.

And by Monday, after retelling the story of his Masters moment, the New Tripoli resident was even a little embarrassed at the attention he received simply for catching a golf ball.

"I've had my 15 minutes of fame," Mitchell said Monday from his office at Air Products in Trexlertown. "I'm ready to be yesterday's story."

Mitchell, vice president and general manager of electronics at Air Products, was witness to — and then part of — history at the Masters on Sunday in Augusta, Ga. Mitchell, 59, happened to be camped at Augusta National Golf Club's second green, where South African professional Louis Oosthuizen made a rare double eagle 2 on the par-5 hole.

It was just the fourth double eagle in Masters history, giving Oosthuizen a two-shot lead at the time and prompting what several players called one of the loudest cheers ever at the tournament. Soon, Mitchell unexpectedly became part of the moment.

After retrieving the ball from the hole, Oosthuizen tossed it to a fan who had been watching from behind the green since 10 a.m. That was Mitchell, who caught the ball, placed it in his pocket and quickly entered the public spotlight.

Mitchell soon was surrounded by reporters seeking his story. Club officials, wearing their iconic green jackets, arrived as well.

"Welcome to Augusta," one member said to Mitchell, according to ESPN.com. "Happy Easter."

Mitchell, attending the tournament with his wife, Jocelyn, showed the ball to fellow fans, some of whom offered money for the new piece of Masters history. Had Oosthuizen won the tournament, the ball would have become even more valuable.

In fact, owners of the online golf memorabilia site Green Jacket Auctions took to Twitter soon after the double eagle, offering $20,000 for the ball — provided Oosthuizen won the Masters. The group recently conducted an auction for a green jacket that belonged to 1959 Masters champ Art Wall Jr. of Honesdale, Wayne County. The jacket sold for $61,452.

Turns out, the offers would not have mattered. Mitchell was accompanied to the Augusta National clubhouse, where he did not hesitate turning over the ball to club officials. He preferred to keep details of the transaction private, as did the Masters tournament committee.

The club offered the ball to Oosthuizen, who signed and returned it to the club's archives, according to an Augusta National spokesman.

"I'm not a souvenir grabber," Mitchell said in a telephone interview Sunday night. "For me, the ball clearly represented a special moment in history. Now, it's in the hands of the club, where it belongs."

The offers of cash didn't appeal to Mitchell because, as he said, "Not everything is measured in dollars and cents." He also was uncomfortable with the spotlight, since he expected Sunday to be nothing more than an entertaining day at the Masters.

"I'm comfortable with the outcome," Mitchell said. "I wasn't expecting to turn up at an event like that and come away speaking to reporters. I probably find it more embarrassing than anything."

Prior to Sunday, Mitchell said the most memorable Masters he had attended (this was his fifth) was in 1996, when Nick Faldo defeated Greg Norman. He was merely a spectator that day.

"To me," Mitchell said, "it was still a golf ball. The most exciting part was exchanging messages with my kids afterward."

By Monday afternoon, Mitchell, who is originally from New Zealand and has worked in Europe and Asia, had received messages from friends and family across the globe. Most congratulated him for how he handled the situation. He also was forced to retell the story prior to several meetings.

"[The golf ball] is part of history," he said. "I didn't have a need for it. I don't really see a need for me to take that moment. I never even thought about it from that respect. I still don't see a reason to do that."

Mitchell called himself an occasional golfer who plays more for the camaraderie than the game itself.

"I like telling stories after the round," he said. "Now I've got an extra story to tell."